An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-09
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Robbie Gallagher (FF), Labour Panel

Some time ago in the Chamber, I raised the issue of the N53, which is the road that links County Monaghan and County Louth, and travels through County Armagh. The condition of that road is very poor. It is very narrow in places, and needs funding to bring it up to a standard that would be capable of accommodating the current volume of traffic.
It was always a very important strategic route for that particular part of the world, but now even more so with the great, exciting, substantial news of the partnership between Queen's University Belfast and Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT. Everybody in the region is hugely excited about that because DkIT will now have university status. Let us hope that the partnership will be up and running by September 2026. It will add another layer of importance to the strategic nature of the N53 and the need to upgrade this hugely dangerous roadway, which has a high volume of traffic on it. Approximately 5,500 students currently attend DkIT, not to mention lecturers and other staff who attend the college. Many of them come from counties Monaghan, Cavan, Louth and Meath and even as far away as Dublin. It is a hugely important road for the region and there is a chronic need for it to be upgraded. I would like the Leader to arrange for the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, to come into the House so that we can have a debate on the matter and explore the possibility of finding moneys to upgrade this road from the shared island fund. The partnership between DkIT and Queen's University is very much a shared island initiative. It is hugely significant and important. We need to make sure people can access that particular facility in a safe manner from the part of the world I come from.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-09